Court extends street racers’ sentence in trucker’s death

TORONTO — A 20-year-old who admitted to "murdering" a truck driver as a result of a deadly street race should have been sent to jail instead of receiving a conditional sentence, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled.

Nauman Nusrat was sentenced to house arrest (after time served) for two years and was given a lifetime ban on driving by Ontario Court Judge Gregory Regis. The Crown, however, appealed that decision and won.

In its latest ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal substituted a penitentiary sentence of 2.5 years in place of Regis’ sentence. However, Appeals Court Judge Gloria Epstein there would be little point sending Nusrat back to jail since he would only serve a few more months.

However, the new sentence sets a benchmark for cases of two other racers involved in the incident that day.

Prabhjit Multani, 21, of Etobicoke and Ravi Badhwar, 22, are scheduled to go to trial later this year. They are charged with dangerous driving, criminal negligence causing death and common nuisance, among other things.

Truck driver David Virgoe was driving his rig along Highway 400 in June 2007 when he swerved to avoid a collision after being cut off by a trio of speeding cars.

The 48-year-old from Innisfil, Ont., was praised as a hero for veering off the highway to avoid oncoming traffic by police officers attending the scene and was nominated posthumously for the Goodyear Highway Hero Award for his selfless action.